


the accidental date phenomenon

by hamartiawrites



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Strangers to Lovers, kickthestickz if you squint, they're youtubers but they don't know each other, this was a prompt but i cant find the exact wording for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 04:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7493754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamartiawrites/pseuds/hamartiawrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil's recovering from a broken heart, Dan's the guy at the end of the restaurant who's apparently been stood up by his blind date, and Chris and PJ just want to see Phil happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the accidental date phenomenon

"Phil, you've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Phil asks innocently, standing up straight from his previous crouch. Behind him, a young girl in a school uniform beams at him and thanks him before running off.

"It wasn't even your fault that that kid got her ice cream ruined! You didn't have to buy her another cone." PJ points out.

"Okay, yeah, but she was crying! I couldn't just sit there and watch a little kid cry." Phil reasons.

"You could've walked away and pretended not to hear her annoying screams." Chris, another friend of theirs, points out.

Phil frowns. "That's just mean."

"I'm with Chris here. It's what a reasonable person would do, Phil." PJ points out. "You don't know her, you weren't the one to knock her ice cream over, you literally had no reason to go over there and buy her another cone. Her mum could've done that."

A look of disbelief comes over Phil's face, and Chris sighs, shaking his head. "Whatever. I don't know how we'll be able to convince a literal angel from heaven that doing random acts of kindness is sort of weird."

It's a statement that Phil finds he can't counter. He's the type of guy to buy extra take away in hopes of seeing a homeless person on the way home. There have been plenty of accounts where he's quieted a sobbing child with a balloon or similar treat. Phil's the kind of guy who you think you only see in movies - handsome, tall, not a bad dresser, and the man who helps old ladies cross the street.

While his friends are thanking every god above for Phil's existence and for his being in their lives, because Phil is the one friend who will never let you down, they also grow worried about Phil too, because someone as kind as Phil is a rarity and there's no doubt that someone's going to take advantage of said kindness.

The only unkind thing Phil has done is to not listen to what his friends say. He insists he can take care of himself.

Besides, it isn't Phil's fault he's been raised with the kindest family in the kindest environment with the kindest friends. In Phil's mind, the world has been nothing but kind to him, so why not be kind back?

* * *

The answer is because in a world that Phil has treated with the utmost kindness, there's still bound to be one person to take advantage of it.

As soon as Phil stumbles into PJ and Chris' house, sobbing madly, his voice hoarse and his cheeks stained with tear streaks, the two friends know what's happened - which is a relief, because making Phil retell the story would cause in a lot more tears.

"I don't know what I did," Phil lets out between sobs, "to make her go ahead and cheat on me."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Phil." PJ says quietly, a hand running up and down Phil's back.

"Yeah, it's Lucy who's gone ahead and done something stupid, alright? She doesn't deserve someone as kind as you." Chris adds.

"I'm the one who didn't deserve her love." Phil says miserably. "Seeing as she went ahead and did that."

"Come on, Phil, don't push yourself down like that!" PJ gives his friend's arm a tight squeeze. "You deserve all the love in the world, a guy as kind as you are."

"You reckon that's why she cheated on me?" Phil murmurs.

"What?"

"'Cause I was too kind that it was boring."

Chris and PJ exchange panicked glances - although the look in Chris' eyes is more of one of anger - before PJ turns back to Phil. "Phil, you may be really kind, but that doesn't mean you're boring! You've got one of the most interesting stories, and all these amazing ideas - if anyone's boring, it's us!"

Phil's silent, but the look on his face shows that he isn't convince by PJ's reasoning. "I'm going to go home, guys." he murmurs silently.

"No, you can stay over." Chris immediately exclaims. "That way Lucy won't be able to come over and beg for your forgiveness or something?" he adds as an afterthought, hoping Phil just says yes.

To his friends' relief, Phil nods (albeit wordlessly), and shuffles aimlessly, watching with lifeless eyes as PJ and Chris fix up the sofa bed for him.

"Call for us if you're feeling uncomfortable, okay?" PJ reminds his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah." Phil nods, forcing a small smile for him - and PJ wishes he didn't, because he feels guilty about the fact he can't help his friend out when that's all that Phil's done for him as long as he's known him.

Chris seems to feel the same, because he bumps into Phil gently before saying, "You'll feel better in the morning, Phil. Trust me."

Phil just nods, still putting on that fake smile, and reluctantly, PJ and Chris make their way up to their separate rooms, still exchanging worried glances as they part ways.

PJ doesn't feel any better when he comes down later that night for a glass of water and can hear nothing but the sound of Phil's sobs.

* * *

Phil doesn't feel better in the morning.

In fact, Phil doesn't feel better even when it's been eight months since he and Lucy had broke it off.

Two weeks after they did, Phil had insisted that he was over it, but PJ and Chris know better, because Phil's smile isn't the same, the light that used to be in his eyes isn't there, and he won't leave his apartment unless his friends drag him out of it by force.

And frankly, PJ's had enough of seeing his friend act the way he did and not do anything.

"Phil!" PJ calls, bursting into his friend's apartment with a grin evident on his face. "Phil Lester!"

PJ finds his friend in his bedroom, laptop in his lap and still in his pajamas. He frowns to himself, sending a casual glance at Phil's withering house plants.

"How'd you get in?" Phil frowns, putting the laptop down.

"Spare key." PJ answers, bringing out said key to prove his point. "You busy tonight?"

PJ notices the way Phil cowers away from him slightly, and how his blue eyes squint ever so slightly at PJ. "Why do you ask?"

PJ winces, because he knows he and Chris are to blame for Phil's reluctance in coming with them. They've been trying to set him up with someone and make him try and forget Lucy, but their plans have always resulted in failure.

"Don't worry, Phil, I promise this is just gonna be you, me, and Chris." PJ reassures him.

Phil sits up a bit straighter, looking interested. "What did you have in mind?"

"There's this amazing new pizza place that's just opened up other side of town." PJ grins. "I was thinking we could grab a bite or two? It'd be fun!"

Phil smiles, because he knows what PJ is trying to do and even if he guarantees it's not going to work, it wouldn't hurt to at least try for the sake of his friends' happiness.

So Phil says, "Sure, why not?" and he finds himself climbing into PJ's car hours later, greeting the driver and Chris a good evening.

Phil can't help but feel that something's going to happen tonight, something big, and he doesn't know if he likes it.

* * *

"You'll love it here, Phil!" Chris grins as soon as they walk through the doors of the restaurant.

"Of course he will, you are paying, after all." PJ grins, and Phil finds himself smiling at the horrified look that comes over Chris' face and the snicker that comes from PJ's mouth.

(He also notices the way PJ and Chris share a triumphant look.)

They take a seat, PJ and Chris sitting together and Phil sitting across them. They're handed menus, and are told to call the waitress once they've decided what to eat.

Phil sees him as soon as the waitress moves away.

There's a brown haired man, probably younger than him by a few years. He's dressed nicely, he looks really nice too, but there's a worried look on his face and his hand tapping away nervously on his leg. He keeps looking down at his phone and then sighing, and at one point Phil sees a waiter come near him.

He can't see what the man's reaction was, but he sees the hopeless look in his eyes once the waitress leaves.

Something in Phil clicks, and he finds himself calling for the waitress that had just spoken to the man.

"Phil, we're not done-" Chris tries to interject, but he falls silent as he hears the reason behind Phil calling the man forward.

"Sorry, don't mean to be intruding, but what's with that guy over there?" Phil asks, gesturing to the man subtly.

The waitress looks sympathetic as he answers Phil. "Been here for over an hour an a half, him. Says he's waiting for a date. None of us want to try and tell him he's been stood up, poor guy."

"Poor guy indeed." PJ agrees, sending the man a sympathetic look. "Imagine, he either has to leave alone or eat alone."

Phil frowns as he realizes the truth behind PJ's sentence, but there's something more than sympathy that Phil feels, because there's this man waiting for a date that's never going to arrive, the other customers are whispering and staring at him, and Phil can't just sit there and do nothing about this, because surely there's one thing he can do, right?

"Hey, you two wouldn't mind eating without me, right?" Phil asks.

"What?" Chris and PJ ask simultaneously.

"You won't hate me for that, right?" Phil asks, hoping that his friends answer soon because the man looks like he's going to leave the table soon.

"Phil, are you leaving?" PJ asks, and he frowns as Phil doesn't answer, instead standing up with a panicked look in his eyes.

"I'll explain later!" he promises a bewildered PJ and Chris before he brisk walks his way over to the man, taking his seat across him and giving him a smile.

"God, I am so sorry I'm late!" Phil exclaims loudly, and the other customers that had been whispering about the man being alone turn their heads away, suddenly not interested in the man anymore. "Traffic was a pain, you have no idea!"

"What?" the man frowns, and Phil bites his lip nervously before leaning in so only the man will be able to hear him.

"We've never met before, and I don't know you at all, but I thought you might want company." Phil whispers. "It's just, the waiter told me about how you were waiting for so long and I didn't want you to eat here all by yourself."

"You want to eat with me?" the man echoes. "I'm a complete stranger."

"Strangers are friends you just haven't met." Phil grins, and the man shakes his head but Phil can see him smiling.

"What ever happened to stranger danger?"

"Giving you the benefit of the doubt." Phil beams. "I'm Phil, by the way. Phil Lester."

"Dan Howell, nice to meet you Phil."

Phil smiles, extending his hand for Dan to shake. Dan's hand is soft and warm, and he grips Dan's hand tightly before letting go with a huge grin.

"So, you decided on what you want to eat?"

* * *

"And then it just attacked me out of nowhere!" Phil exclaims, and Dan's face is a bright red with laughter, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"I'm glad to see you survived that traumatic experience." Dan laughs.

"Barely." Phil says. "I sort of wish it was radioactive, though, imagine it! I'd be Squirrelman!"

"From what I've heard, you becoming a superhero doesn't seem like that much of a good idea." Dan grins, slicing himself another slice of the pizza.

"I'd probably cause about a dozen more accidents just trying to save a kitten from a tree." Phil admits.

Dan laughs at that as well. "Same." he grins, putting up his glass of soda to his mouth.

Phil takes the temporary silence as an opportunity to look down at his phone, and he's surprised at the number of texts he's received from PJ and Chris. His eyes flit to the corner of the room, where their booth is - except Chris and PJ aren't there anymore.

A few scrolls through his text messages confirm that the duo left thirty minutes ago and hadn't wanted to bother Phil by going up to him and Dan to tell him they were leaving.

"You alright, Phil?"

Phil looks up to find Dan staring at him, curious brown eyes flitting from the phone to Phil's face. Phil smiles, locking his phone and placing it back down on the table. "Yeah, I'm fine, just my friend being an idiot." he chuckles, referring to Chris.

"Were they the ones you walked in with a while back?" Dan asks.

"How'd you know I came in with two friends?" Phil frowns.

Dan rolls his eyes. "Phil, I sat here waiting for a blind date that never came, I was looking at the door every time someone came in hoping that it was them."

Phil blinks, once, twice, waiting for Dan to realize that he's just given away the reason to why he had been sitting alone, but Dan just looks back at him weirdly, as if wondering why Phil looks so shocked.

"What?" Dan asks, eyebrows furrowing together as he frowns at Phil, but then his eyes widen with realization and he lets out a laugh. "Phil, come on, I was gonna tell you sooner or later."

"Yeah, but, I, uh, didn't think you would." Phil admits, sheepishly smiling as he rubs the back of his neck. "I mean, I am just a stranger after all."

"A stranger who's done far more good to me than any of my friends have." Dan smiles. "I don't think any of them would have pretended to be my date if they saw me alone."

"Who said I was pretending?"

The words come out of Phil's mouth before he can think twice about them and when he realizes what he's just said it's too late, because he's blushing as red as a tomato and averting Dan's gaze because Dan is staring at him in disbelief and what Phil hopes is clearly not disgust.

But then Dan's blushing too, and then he clears his throat awkwardly and mumbles, "I wish you told me that 5 minutes in so I at least tried to appear attractive." and Phil looks back up at him and, not for the first time on their date, takes in the adorable way Dan is smiling and the light in his eyes that maybe Dan doesn't know exists and he grins too, and though Phil doesn't know it himself, there's that light in his eyes as he smiles and he feels happier than he's felt in months.

"Oh, don't worry, you don't even have to try to look attractive, you just naturally are." Phil grins, and Dan smiles like an idiot but he covers his face with his hand in an attempt to hide the growing blush.

"You just hit on me, oh my God, Phil." he groans, but there's the laugh in his voice and Phil laughs too.

"You liked it." Phil giggles, and Dan peeks out at him from his hand and rolls his eyes.

"Uh, is this really a date, though? Aren't you, um, straight?" Dan asks.

"Aren't you?" Phil asks back.

"So sorry I don't flaunt my gayness everywhere." Dan smirks, rolling his eyes. "But no, Phil, I'm not straight. I'm so gay even my hair isn't straight."

Phil frowns and looks up to Dan's hair. "It's, uh -"

"Not naturally straight, I just straighten it because otherwise I look like a fucking hobbit." Dan explains.

"Oh, I dye mine." Phil adds. "It used to be ginger but now it's as dark as my soul."

"Phil, that's not what your soul would look like if it had a color." Dan grins. "But alright, I'll let you keep believing that you're hardcore."

Phil laughs, because that's the last thing he is - he takes care of house plants, for God's sake - and as he reaches for his drink says, "But no, I'm actually bi." and smiles up at Dan.

Dan laughs at that, shaking his head as he grins at Phil. "I still can't believe this is happening. I mean, I only ever agreed to this blind date thing because my friends thought I was being too lonely and miserable, and I end up going on a date with you and I don't even know it's a date until it's ending."

"We could do a do-over, if you want." Phil suggests. "Another date, another time, another place?"

"Yeah." Dan grins. "Yeah, I'd definitely want to do this again."

* * *

It's 12 AM, and Dan's video still won't upload.

It's a collab video between them both, a cliché boyfriend tag that their fans had been demanding for ever since they found out that they were both dating, and in all honesty, Dan's supposed to be the one awake at 12 AM waiting for his video to upload.

However, said YouTuber is snuggled up under the covers beside Phil, coughing every so now and then. Dan had woken up with a fever that day, and although he had tried to edit the video himself, he had ended up throwing up the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl and Phil hadn't allowed him to touch his laptop ever since.

That didn't mean that Phil didn't see the worried look on Dan's face as he fell asleep. Phil knew that Dan had wanted to upload the video as soon as possible because his fans were demanding for a new video and Phil could see the stress that Dan was going under.

So being the kind boyfriend that he was, Phil had decided to edit the video for Dan. He had done it before, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Besides, no one but Dan would know.

The video finally finished uploading at 1:30 AM, and as soon as Phil places the laptop carefully onto his bedside table, Dan lets out a yawn and wakes up, blinking at Phil who's obviously still awake.

"You feeling okay?" Phil whispers, placing a hand to Dan's forehead.

Dan answers with a series of uncontrollable coughs, Phil rubbing his back to support him and hugging him tight when Dan groans and falls back onto the pillows. "I feel terrible." he croaks.

"You'll feel better soon." Phil says, pressing a kiss to Dan's forehead, as if he's a little kid. "Come on, let's go back to sleep."

"What were you doing still awake?" Dan asks, sleepily looking at Phil.

"I got your new video up on your channel." Phil says. "So it'll be easier for you to rest knowing that you've provided your fans with something."

"You didn't need to do that." Dan protests, but Phil can see the gratitude and relief in his eyes.

"I know, but I wanted to." Phil whispers softly, smiling affectionately as Dan struggles to stay up. "I'm the kind one, right?"

Dan smiles at that, his eyes finally fluttering shut as he falls back to sleep, and Phil smiles, letting himself stare at Dan for a moment and wonder how he'd end up here, lying beside Dan in bed and knowing that Dan is his, only his, and that the whole world knows it, too.

Perhaps, Phil thinks, a smile on his face just before he falls asleep, the world is just too kind.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I finally got myself to find a title that wasn't in any way related to Ancient Greece. 
> 
> This is a lot less shorter than my two recent fics, but I feel satisfied with it's length, so here it is! 
> 
> This wasn't even my own idea, I saw this somewhere on Tumblr (I think this actually happened to a user and someone reblogged saying 'imagine your otp' but I can't find it anymore so rip). 
> 
> Also, thank you for all your nice comments on my recent fics! I didn't expect to get them, thank you for taking the time to write them down! (If you have the time, please also [reblog](http://hamartiahowell.tumblr.com/post/147444515418/the-accidental-date-phenomenon) this fic on Tumblr, I'd appreciate it immensely!) 
> 
> As always, leave a kudos or/and a comment below if you liked this story!


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